ATX Gossip correspondent Dehron Hite-Benson attended the red carpet premiere of Bernie in Austin and he got to have some up close and personal interaction with Matthew McConaughey.
Below is what he had to say.
I really got to know Matthew McConaughey and his mom Kay on the red carpet Thursday night at the premiere of her boy’s new movie Bernie at the Violet Crown Cinema. I had a good conversation with Kay and she was cordial to everybody else on the red carpet. She is a sweet, humble, down to earth Texas woman.
Kay spoke about her small role in Bernie, raved about how good of a mother her future daughter-in-law, Camila Alves, is to her grandkids and generously took credit for raising her own boys in a good Texas manner.
After chatting up McConaughey’s mom, I went outside to see what he was doing. I found him posing for pictures with fans.
A funny incident happened when some fans handed the camera to to Bernie director Richard Linklater and asked him to take a picture of them with the actor. Linklater happily accepted the camera and snapped some pictures. In case you don’t know who Linklater is, he also directed Slacker, Dazed and Confused, The School of Rock and Me and Orson Welles. The vibe was good and there was no pretentious celebrity attitude.
In fact, the whole event was pretty laid back and relaxed. McConaughey showed up wearing Livestrong pants and tennis shoes. He made sure his mother was taken care of, keeping an eye on everyone that spoke to her. Perhaps he was nervous of what childhood stories she might divulge.
Later, when McConaughey was pulled to the red carpet for photographs, he was separated from his mom. ATX Gossip’s Anna Lewallen happened to be standing next to Ms. McConaughey who asked for assistance getting to the red carpet to be with her son. Anna walked Kay up to Matthew, and said “Matthew, I think your mom may be a little shy.” To which Matthew replied, “Oh, she’s definitely not shy.”
After all the interviews and photo ops were over, we managed to get to the screening. Linklater and McConaughey gave a short speech before the movie started. Linklater pointed out that Bernie is very much a Texas movie and that there are several parts of the movie that only Texans will understand.
Matthew followed by saying that anytime Linklater comes to him with an idea, he is “immediately 95% interested in making the movie, before they even talk details.” The two obviously enjoy working with each other and are, apparently, close friends.
After the screening, there was a Q&A session with Rick Linklater, Kay McConaughey, Sonny Carl Davis, Richard Robichaux, and the actual Danny Buck Davidson (played by McConaughey in the movie). McConaughey, however, left early to be with his family. A true Texas gentleman.
The movie, the whole cast and crew embody small town East Texas to the core.
ATXgossip correspondent Anna Lewallen with Kay McConaughey.
Bernie opens at the Violet Crown on April 27.
